(a)

the report to be considered provided information up to August 2022 and showed the position to the end of the financial year (March) with an overspend of £6.656m – this was an improvement of the previous report;

(b)

unforeseen cost was identified in the report in terms of the impact of utilities, and the pay settlement – this has driven up the cost by approximately £6m – it could be considered that if it wasn’t for those unforeseeable costs then the Council would be in a very good position at month 5 with a relatively small overspend.

(c)

the Council paid the Theatre Royal £350k per annum – Members would be advised if this figure was inclusive of the £100k reduction;

(d)

it was considered that bus shelter advertising would be an income generation opportunity for the Council – this linked to the £75k reduction in costs; more information on this contract would be provided to Members via a written response;

(e)

grants issued to the Theatre Royal came out of the Council’s general fund – this was set up by discretion. The Council’s Economic Development team worked closely with the Theatre Royal to ensure the decision to reduce funding was acceptable to both parties;

(f)

at this time of the year it was not unusual for the Council to show an overspend on the idiom budget – it was recognised that an awful lot of work had gone into getting the Council to this financial position having gone from a £14m overspend to a £6.6m overspend. Officers were happy to revisit the childrens services budget and have a deep dive into the budget. During discussion of this item Members discussed their dissatisfaction that responses to a previous action from 29 June 2022 scrutiny meeting relating to the childrens services budget had not been provided as it was considered that this would provide the committee with greater clarity on this matter;

(g)

the Council’s working balance was at £8.4m against a net budget of £198m – this was 4.2%; the industry standard was to try and get as close to 5% - this was not a statutory requirement;

(h)

the collection of garden green waste would not be reinstated in this financial year however was expected to be reinstated next year;

(i)

the Council was considering a reduction in the voltage of street lighting; the council was advised that it wouldn’t affect the lux value that the lights gave out so Plymouth wouldn’t be deprived of lighting;

(j)

it was not known at this stage if there would be a cost for garden waste collections in the future.

(1)

To note the contents of the report.

(2)

further information relating to the bus shelter advertising contract would be provided to Members.